The 2013 NHL Season Thread

[Corvus]

This whole realignment seem's needlessly complicated. Was it really that hard to just move the Jets to the West and send the Wings east?

Edit: Also, the Canucks are playing like they've realized they don't even have to try to win the NW this year. So much for increased competition I guess.

[CS85]

I'm finding myself rooting for the Blackhawks in each game. I want to see how far they can take this thing and I'd love for the Blue Jackets to be the team to end it.

They are going to go without a regulation loss for the entire season and then lose in the first round of the playoffs and it will be the most awesome thing in sports since the 18-0 Patriots lost the Super Bowl

Butthurt much?

overreact much? what are you, 12?

Considering your rambling "they're gonna win and they're gonna be loved by all because they're dumb and they'll lose in the playoffs and it'll be awesome because it's funny and because I hate the blackhawks and I hate the patriots because they win and the patriots are bad and the blackhawks are bad so there" response had all the wit and dignity of a 12 year old on a message board I feel like I was just hitting par for the course.

[rainmaker17]

I have no idea how good or bad Dallas is this year (and I've seen 85% of the games), but they are entertaining as hell to watch.

[The_Admiral]

I have no idea how good or bad Dallas is this year (and I've seen 85% of the games)

The NHL.

[dbadefense1990]

And Fox Sports West just did "Heat vs. Blackhawks" with Jim Fox and Kiki Vandeweghe during the first intermission of the Kings game.

Holy crap. Just stop this. The whole Heat winning streak is hovering attention because it involves LeBron (where was this much attention when the Clippers' streak was 17 games?). That's it. If the Bucks won 50 games in a row, meh. If the Heat win 10 straight in a separate streak, "oh, LeBron is a better human being than MLK, FDR, Ghandi, Moses, Jesus Christ, etc."

I get Kiki discussing basketball because it's his obligation, but Jimmy Fox too? C'mon man, you're better than to whore yourself down to those standards.

[DaytonBlue]

Whoops, was supposed to be in pointless realignment thread

[ZapRowsdower8]

Serious question about this realignment. (Sorry if its been answered already.) Lets say that one of the wild cards comes from each division. In this example we'll have the Rangers finishing with the best record in the East, the Flyers being the Atlantic wildcard and the Bruins as the Central wildcard. If the Flyers finish with a better record then the Bruins do they then play the Central division champion or since both divisions are represented does the first round stay divisional and they play the Rangers? I'm hoping that it stays divisional, but OITGDNHL.

[BrySmalls]

In your scenario, since the Flyers are the first Wildcard (7th Seed) then they would play the Central Division Champion (2nd Seed); whereas the Bruins, who are the second Wildcard (8th Seed), would face the Rangers (1st Seed).

Also, here's the information going around the innernets regarding the playoffs:

Under the playoff plan, the top three teams from each division would qualify, followed by the seventh and eighth teams in the conference, regardless of division.

However, if you really look at the big picture, then having these "wildcard teams" facing the top two seeds from each Conference is a lot better than the current playoff format where there are three division champions facing inferior and not so inferior opposition in the quarterfinals.

For example, the third division champion, let's say the Southeast Division champion, could have a worse record than the 6th Seed.

Therefore, the tweak to the playoff format further enhances the prestige of winning your division.

[Sport]

This whole realignment seem's needlessly complicated. Was it really that hard to just move the Jets to the West and send the Wings east?

I know nobody cares about us except us, but Columbus is why you can't do that. The league has to think about all of their teams and try to put each one on as equal a playing surface as they can. If they had left the Blue Jackets in the west and then taken away the Red Wings it would've been an even worse situation than it is now. Franchise killing, potentially.

The new alignment solves the very legitimate gripes of the Red Wings, Stars, Wild, Blue Jackets, and Avalanche without creating too much new damage anywhere else. It'll never be perfect because of the spread this league has, but it's really one of the most ideal alignments for every team.

The only teams that may have a case are the Florida teams, but the increased travel they're complaining about is a laughably small fraction of what Detroit and Columbus have had to deal with for the last decade and a half.

On top of that is an improved schedule so everybody plays everybody twice a season at least. It's more fair competitively and it's better for the fans.

[Sport]

BTW, that's 3 straight wins and 5 straight overtime games for the Blue Jackets.

It's not showing up in their record, but there's something here. They've used 11 different defenseman this season and they continue to stay tight in games without getting blown out. The depth on the blueline will be an asset moving forward.

[The_Admiral]

If they keep up this work ethic and get their big pieces back, I see no reason why they can't contend for a low playoff seed next year. It's getting clear that the worst has come and gone.

[IceCap]

Gah. At least it was only a two goal game. Dang Bruins...

As for realignment, sorry. Doing it before the Coyotes situation was solved one way or another was pretty stupid. Was it really so hard to just swap Nashville and Winnipeg and hold off on major realignment until that clusterf*** in Glendale was over and done with?

I know nobody cares about us except us, but Columbus is why you can't do that. The league has to think about all of their teams and try to put each one on as equal a playing surface as they can. If they had left the Blue Jackets in the west and then taken away the Red Wings it would've been an even worse situation than it is now. Franchise killing, potentially.

I'm sorry McCarthy, I don't buy this at all. Moving the Red Wings east but leaving the Blue Jackets in the West would potentially kill the Jackets? I don't see how.

Travel distance is a meaningless argument. The Red Wings survived just fine in the west, becoming a powerhouse despite their travel schedule. Build a good team and that won't matter.

Same for television, really. Detroit is one of the league's strongest tv markets, despite the late start times. Again proving that late games aren't a hindrance if you build a strong team with a large enough following.

Please don't take any of this to mean that I'm trying to insult the Blue Jackets' fanbase, because I'm not. No one else brought in NHL announcers to call a NHL '13 simulation at a bar during a lockout. I'm just saying that Columbus' placement in the west isn't the cause of the franchise's problems. The fact that they've been run by morons for most of their existence is.

As for Detroit going back west if/when Phoenix moves to Quebec City? I doubt that. Detroit's been clamouring to go to the East for years. I doubt the NHL would just move them back like that. Sorry to say, but Columbus is probably going to be the one moving back to the West should the Coyotes move to Quebec. Which would still look incredibly messy.

Which goes back to my original point, that doing this before the Coyotes were dealt with was a very stupid thing to do. But NHL.

[OnWis97]

As a Wild fan, I've sort of developed a sense of entitlement to a realignment. We have spent much of our existence getting minimal games against East teams and playing almost all of our road games in later time zones. The old Norris rivalries made some geographic sense; it's hard to get jazzed for Calgary, Edmonton, Colorado and Vancouver. In reality, there are minimal "close" rivalries for Minnesota outside of Chicago (who's fans probably don't think too much about Minnesota) and I suppose Winnipeg, so maybe it's the football/basketball tie ins but the old Norris worked out well.

Anyhow, now we get teams in our own time zone and with likely more interest to our fans in Dallas (though that's getting kind of forgotten), Chicago, and Winnipeg. I think the Wild are the biggest winners in this whole thing and were the biggest losers before (particularly when the schedule was set up for nothing but divisional games).

The beef I'd have if I was a fan of most other teams (since the aligntment did not serve them as badly as the Wild) is the 16 vs. 14 thing. I'd like a 15/15; the 8/7 and 8/7 would work fine with wild cards. But that's easy for me to tell fans of Detroit and Columbus to have to play all of their road games in later time zones. I know a lot of people say that the time zone thing is overrated, but it sucks (particularly this year with no east games) to have almost all the road games at 9:00.

Anyhow, while I understand everyone's beef, I am still happy with it, but as I said, I've developed this sense of entitlement (note the self - deprecation there).

[The_Admiral]

I'm just scratching my head over how the league can incessantly suck its own dick over THE ORIGINAL SIX (which it isn't even anyway) and then kick one out to the island of misfit hockey teams. I have no interest in games with the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche, rotted corpses of the checkbook hockey fad that they are.

This whole thing with keeping anyone from having to play games before or after 7 feels like another case of the NHL building another house of lies, like how your 33-35-7 team is in the playoff conversation, or business is booming thanks to all these expansion fees we keep collecting. Ratings will have never been better in what's less a league and more a loose confederation of tribes.

[Sport]

I know nobody cares about us except us, but Columbus is why you can't do that. The league has to think about all of their teams and try to put each one on as equal a playing surface as they can. If they had left the Blue Jackets in the west and then taken away the Red Wings it would've been an even worse situation than it is now. Franchise killing, potentially.

I'm sorry McCarthy, I don't buy this at all. Moving the Red Wings east but leaving the Blue Jackets in the West would potentially kill the Jackets? I don't see how.

You don't have to buy it, but it is the truth. They'd be stuck with their miserable travel and late night games and on top of that they'd be without the one close divisional opponent that brings in fans. I'm telling you what management, local writers, local fans, and the like have been saying.

Travel distance is a meaningless argument. The Red Wings survived just fine in the west, becoming a powerhouse despite their travel schedule. Build a good team and that won't matter.

Same for television, really. Detroit is one of the league's strongest tv markets, despite the late start times. Again proving that late games aren't a hindrance if you build a strong team with a large enough following.

A. Travel distance is not a meaningless argument. It's half the reason a third of the league (Wings included) is unhappy with their current placement.

B. You can't compare the Red Wings' fanbase that was huge before the last 20 years of dominance to a Columbus fanbase that has never seen a playoff win. That's not a fair comparison. Detroit had time to build up fan equity in a spot that made sense for them before they were forced to play an unfavorable schedule in an unfavorable conference. They are an original 6 team for crying out loud. Columbus is not an original 6 team and has been tasked with building that same fan equity while playing an unfavorable schedule in an unfavorable conference. And it'll take decades to get to where the Red Wings are now. Why force teams to deal with inequities when you don't have to? Why make the playing field unlevel for some teams when you don't have to?

C. the late start times really really suck and they are a hindrance. No matter how good the team is, your ratings will always be worse at 10 pm than if you were playing that same game at 7 pm. It's better for everybody if most of their games begin at a watchable time. Why force one of your fanbases to just accept that half of their games will be late as their reality and endure when there's a solution? Because we have to have 15 teams in both conferences?

and another thing, can you teams starting at 7:30 local time knock it off?

Please don't take any of this to mean that I'm trying to insult the Blue Jackets' fanbase, because I'm not. No one else brought in NHL announcers to call a NHL '13 simulation at a bar during a lockout. I'm just saying that Columbus' placement in the west isn't the cause of the franchise's problems. The fact that they've been run by morons for most of their existence is.

I wasn't insulted and I wasn't saying their spot in the west was the cause of their problems. I'm saying that it'll help the fanbase so much by being in the East.

As for Detroit going back west if/when Phoenix moves to Quebec City? I doubt that. Detroit's been clamouring to go to the East for years. I doubt the NHL would just move them back like that. Sorry to say, but Columbus is probably going to be the one moving back to the West should the Coyotes move to Quebec. Which would still look incredibly messy.

Which goes back to my original point, that doing this before the Coyotes were dealt with was a very stupid thing to do. But NHL.

We all agree it was dumb to realign before solidifying the Coyotes, but that was the NHL being the NHL and there's nothing we can do about it now. Detroit has been clamoring to go to the East for years but so have the Blue Jackets and who's better equipped to move back to the west? It's Detroit. The Red Wings will be fine either way, but the Blue Jackets need this. Trust me on that.

[The_Admiral]

I do want to say while we're half on the topic that the Blue Jackets experienced incredible support to begin their existence, as did the Wild, so when people say "we need to relocate a team to Seattle because American markets demand winners while Quebec City will happily eat its own feces like a dog," this is not rooted in reality, and is only a certain subset of hockey fans expressing their hatred of Canada, specifically French Canada.

[AlexWilson]

Gah. At least it was only a two goal game. Dang Bruins...

As for realignment, sorry. Doing it before the Coyotes situation was solved one way or another was pretty stupid. Was it really so hard to just swap Nashville and Winnipeg and hold off on major realignment until that clusterf*** in Glendale was over and done with?

I know nobody cares about us except us, but Columbus is why you can't do that. The league has to think about all of their teams and try to put each one on as equal a playing surface as they can. If they had left the Blue Jackets in the west and then taken away the Red Wings it would've been an even worse situation than it is now. Franchise killing, potentially.

I'm sorry McCarthy, I don't buy this at all. Moving the Red Wings east but leaving the Blue Jackets in the West would potentially kill the Jackets? I don't see how.

Travel distance is a meaningless argument. The Red Wings survived just fine in the west, becoming a powerhouse despite their travel schedule. Build a good team and that won't matter.

Same for television, really. Detroit is one of the league's strongest tv markets, despite the late start times. Again proving that late games aren't a hindrance if you build a strong team with a large enough following.

Please don't take any of this to mean that I'm trying to insult the Blue Jackets' fanbase, because I'm not. No one else brought in NHL announcers to call a NHL '13 simulation at a bar during a lockout. I'm just saying that Columbus' placement in the west isn't the cause of the franchise's problems. The fact that they've been run by morons for most of their existence is.

As for Detroit going back west if/when Phoenix moves to Quebec City? I doubt that. Detroit's been clamouring to go to the East for years. I doubt the NHL would just move them back like that. Sorry to say, but Columbus is probably going to be the one moving back to the West should the Coyotes move to Quebec. Which would still look incredibly messy.

Which goes back to my original point, that doing this before the Coyotes were dealt with was a very stupid thing to do. But NHL.

Which is why we need 2 expansion teams, one in the east, one is the west. Quebec (Yotes) get moved to the east, and Columbus goes back to the West, which makes a bunch more sense. Hopefully the 2 Expansion teams are in Seattle (obvious) and one in a Maritime province. It makes the most sense. I know 17 and 15 is an odd combo, but it works out for the best this way.

[Kramerica Industries]

Except the NHL has thousands of issues more pertinent right now than expansion.

[IceCap]

*a whole lot of stuff about the Blue Jackets and start times*

I wasn't trying to compare Columbus to Detroit. It was only to illustrate that if you build a good hockey team then the problems associated with start times and tv viewership kind of solve themselves. Columbus won't suddenly become a playoff contender now that they only have to travel to the east coast instead of the west coast, and their tv viewership (ie the fanbase) won't suddenly improve because they're still in the very early processes of rebuilding an already bad team. The growing fanbase in Columbus, I suspect, will support and watch a winner. Regardless of if that winner is playing its road games at the Staples Centre or MSG.

and another thing, can you teams starting at 7:30 local time knock it off?

Here's what I find funny about this conversation. My team gets those 7:00 and 7:30 EST start times and my ideal NHL realignment has the Leafs moving to the West into a Great Lakes-heavy central with Columbus, Detroit, Chicago, Minnesota, Winnipeg, and St. Louis.

Which is why we need 2 expansion teams, one in the east, one is the west. Quebec (Yotes) get moved to the east, and Columbus goes back to the West, which makes a bunch more sense. Hopefully the 2 Expansion teams are in Seattle (obvious) and one in a Maritime province. It makes the most sense. I know 17 and 15 is an odd combo, but it works out for the best this way.

The NHL can barely keep the thirty teams it has afloat. Two more teams would just be the 90s "we're experiencing short term gains due to expansion fees" all over again. Not to mention two more teams would further water down the talent.

[OnWis97]

Except the NHL has thousands of issues more pertinent right now than expansion.

Yes. And crappy teams have more pertinent issues than uniforms, but we're always asking them to change.